


Lost

by turnipdad



Series: JanuRWBY Collection [18]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Gen, JanuRWBY, Qrow Branwen Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:54:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28843422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnipdad/pseuds/turnipdad
Summary: Qrow Branwen is many things, and all of them have an impact on his many relationships.JanuRWBY Day 18: Teams/Partners/Found Families
Relationships: Qrow Branwen & Ozpin, Qrow Branwen & Raven Branwen, Qrow Branwen & Ruby Rose, Qrow Branwen & Summer Rose, Qrow Branwen & Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen & Yang Xiao Long
Series: JanuRWBY Collection [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086875
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Qrow Branwen has not had a great life. Please be nice to him Volume 8.
> 
> Content Warning: Child Abuse, Suicide Ideation, Alcohol Abuse, Mental Health Descriptions (Depression), Graphic Injury (Impalement)

Qrow Branwen is many things. He’s an ex-member of the Branwen Tribe, a former teacher from Signal Academy, a member of Team STRQ, a member of Ozpin’s brotherhood. An orphan, a spy, a friend, a brother, an uncle.

* * *

He’s too young to remember, but from the stories the tribe has told him, he and Raven came from a village called Avem. In true Branwen fashion, it was raided and pillaged, with the scraps leftover for the Grimm to finish.

Somehow, Qrow and Raven get lucky and ambush one of the bandits with debris from the remains of their home. Every deity on Remnant must have been looking down on him, because the bandit decides to take Qrow and Raven in instead of killing them where they stand. That is the last stroke of good luck Qrow gets in a long time.

No one mentions the twins’ parents, but Qrow can only hope that they wouldn’t have let them suffer like this. As an adult, Qrow matured into a lean form, but for most of his childhood, he was scraggly. It took a long time before he reached the physical standards demanded of the tribe, but he couldn’t reach them until his teenage years. Disappointed with their captive, the tribe takes their frustrations out on him. Beatings were common and withholding food for the smallest error had more often then not. 

The discovery of Raven’s semblance is a godsend to Qrow, finally finding his place amongst the others, no matter how odd the position was. But when Qrow’s semblance shows itself, he wishes that he died back in Avem with the rest of his village. The mistreatment from before was trivial to what he faces now. Even when he grows stronger, becomes one of the best bandits the tribe has ever seen, he’s still only recognized as the ‘back luck charm’.

Raven is the only silver-lining during those formative years. Often standing up and defending Qrow when the other children ganged up on him and earning quite a few lashings when standing up to the adults. Ripping portions from the meager portions of her food, hiding them in her sleeves and giving it to Qrow when no one was looking. One night, the tribe wants to get rid of him, his semblance too much of a risk despite his talents. Raven makes a stand and refuses to back down, threatening to slit her throat, but not before taking down as many members as she could first. Weighing the options of dealing with Qrow’s semblance and the loss of Raven’s, there leader relents.

If it wasn’t for her, Qrow would have left his weapon behind and walked straight into the Grimm-infested forest years ago, letting whatever comes his way decide his demise.

When Qrow and Raven attend Beacon Academy, it’s to learn how to kill huntsmen. They adopt the Branwen name as their own and create backstories to keep the other half of their team at arms length. Their plan to stay partnered during their initiation was foolproof. Qrow lands and find somewhere far away from others, and Raven will portal to him. Everything is prepared, T’s crossed, and I’s dotted.

Like always, Qrow’s semblance throws a wrench in their plans.

Taiyang Xiao Long’s landing strategy consists of him falling through the trees and landing on top of Qrow. With eye contact made, Qrow dreads how things will spiral from here. Shortly after, Raven finds them. A dark scowl paints her face, as she steps out from the foliage with Summer Rose trailing behind her.

The four of them form Team STRQ, with Summer Rose as their leader. And it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

Despite the misstep, Qrow and Raven try to salvage their plan. Tai and Summer promptly come crashing in and throw it out the window. Tai can only be described as a buffoon, and Summer a brat, but their genuine personalities shine through. Their earnest attempts to get to know their partners, eventually cause the twins to open up in a way they’ve never done before.

Qrow has never been treated with respect like this, not without some hidden motive fueling it, but during a quiet night, where Qrow and Summer are the only ones awake, Qrow opens up and shares this with her. Despite this leap in faith, he know he’s doing the right thing.

Team STRQ is the best team that Beacon Academy’s ever had, and it grabs their headmaster’s attention. Headmaster Ozpin is more than he lets on, and he lets them in on the world’s best kept secret. Team STRQ steps up, and though the extra missions and secrecy are hard, Qrow has never felt this free before.

He later learns of other members of Ozpin’s circle. Teaching assistant Glynda Goodwitch and high-and-rising Atlesian Specialist James Ironwood. Knowing of Team STRQ’s indoctrination, they treat Qrow like equals.

Ozpin proves himself a wizard, granting him and his sister the ability to turn into their namesakes, and the last chain holding Qrow down breaks. With his sister, his team, and Ozpin, Qrow knows that he’ll never go back to the tribe. Their original plan is a good as dead to him, and he’d rather run himself through with Harbinger then go back.

But like always, Misfortune reels it’s ugly head and things fall apart.

Upon graduation, Team STRQ spends a few months relishing in glory before Raven decides she wants to go back to the tribe.

Raven’s explanation that their fight against Salem is futile, that no matter what they’ll do, that it’ll all be for nothing. Looking back, Qrow wishes he took his sister more seriously. Trying to blame her sudden fear-mongering on the fear of becoming a mother, that the stress of everything was just finally catching up to her, and that this was all a fear of the unknown was clearly something he should’ve paid more attention to.

Qrow and Raven were born together, and no force other than death would ever separate them, but when Team STRQ wakeup and find the other side of Tai’s bed empty, with Yang all alone in her crib with nothing but a single black feather, Qrow doesn’t know what to do. So he finds solace at the bottom of a bottle.

Yang is a carbon-copy of Raven with Tai’s pallet thrown on top. Qrow fears that Yang will grow up without knowing her mother, jaded by her abandonment. Though the circumstances are greatly different, Qrow thinks back to when he was a child and the hardships he and Raven faced growing up. Qrow knows that Tai, Summer, and himself would all die before letting a single hair on Yang’s head get harmed.

Qrow holds Yang in his arm, letting Tai sleep after a day of wailing, Summer keeping him company. As Yang coos and reaches for the rings on his finger, Qrow vows that he’ll do everything in his power to make sure that his niece knows that she’s loved.

Tai eventually moves on, and his and Summer’s love result in another niece for Qrow.

Ruby looks exactly like Summer, and despite having no shared blood, the vow he made to Yang two years ago just as easily applies to his new niece.

For a few years, things seem to get better. Raven’s abandonment still hurts, and sometimes he doesn’t know how to deal with it without the buzz from a heavy drink. But things are finally looking up again. The family that Tai, Summer, and Qrow have made will keep them safe.

Summer goes on a mission and doesn’t return. The remains of Team STRQ fall apart and can’t pick themselves up.

Tai’s spends days locked away, only stepping out to care for his daughters. But even when out, the dull look in his eyes and the way he seems to fade into the background shows Tai isn’t handling this well. Qrow tries to help, but Summer’s disappearance causes Ozpin to send Qrow out to find any clues on her whereabouts.

His dependency on alcohol is like a siren’s song, always luring him back. He doesn’t know how to live without it anymore. Waking hours are either spent with a buzz or curing a hangover. Anything else is from when he’s blackout drunk.

His biological family is gone, dead or hidden somewhere in Anima’s forests.

The Branwen Tribe, the _family_ that found him, is dead to him.

Summer, Tai, Ruby, Yang. The family that he chose. Qrow’s already lost one of them, and he refuses to lose anymore.

Getting back to normal is hard, but they trudge through. The grief from Summer never goes away, but slowly, they stand back up and march on. On lonely nights on the road, finding whatever horrors Salem has come up with, Qrow can’t do anything but drink.

Tai becomes a teacher at Signal Academy, and for a short period of time, Qrow works alongside him. Watching his nieces grow fills Qrow with a sense of joy. They aren’t his daughters, but they might as well be. If Qrow could be known by any legacy, he would be proud to present his nieces.

After the Fall of Beacon, Qrow still stands by this. Ruby is quick to follow the only lead she has, going to the other end of the world to accomplish this. Yang recovers from her amputation, and throws herself back with a new spark, refusing to stand down when so many others would have. And along the way, his nieces’ friends join in too. Although Ozpin resides within Oscar, Qrow sometimes finds himself watching over eight kids.

The journey to Atlas is filled with near-death experiences, but they all arrive in one piece. Greeted by Atlas’s finest, the Ace-Ops arrest them, their leader Clover Ebi rubbing Qrow the wrong way.

During their mission in the mines, Qrow learns that Clover’s semblance is Good Fortune. For a split second, Qrow stares at his at his antithesis, and every self-loathing thought he’s ever had comes rushing back at once. His first instinct is to reach for his flask, but he promised his family and to himself that he’d do better. So he walks further into the mines.

It’s been a long time since he’s worked with someone he could call an equal, so used to working alone or watching over his nieces’ group. But the fact that their semblances counterbalance each other means that for the first time, Qrow could be with somebody without worrying about the threat of his semblance.

But he was a fool. Clover is blinded by his loyalty to James, Tyrian sows chaos like no other, and Misfortune strikes at its first chance.

With no aura, Clover can do nothing but stumble and fall as Tyrian runs him through with Harbinger. The gaping hole in his chest seals his fate, and as Clover wishes him good luck, another partner is lost. To think that he could spend anytime with loved ones without Misfortune ruining everything was naïve.

In the middle of the tundra, with Clover’s corpse and Harbinger covered in his blood, Qrow screams.

**Author's Note:**

> Can Qrow please have some happiness? CAN QROW PLEASE HAVE SOME HAPPINESS?


End file.
